Airstrip One

Defenceless - 4th December 2002,

The major countries within the EU view NATO increasingly as a tool of the US and are striving to provide alternative security structures for their continent. However, this article, whilst quite clear on the shortcomings of NATO, is clearly erroneous on the desire of Europeans to rearm.

But sooner or later an open conflict between Europe and the US is unavoidable. European governments are preparing for such a contingency with moves to accelerate rearmament. The summit had only just concluded when the German and French foreign ministers, Joschka Fischer and Dominique de Villepin, spoke out in favour of a joint paper calling for the extension of the European Union into a “European Security and Defence Union”. The paper is directed towards the EU constitutional convention as the basis for the elaboration of a European constitution.

The French and the Germans are constructing an elaborate castle for themselves woven out of treaties and promises. They have clarified their proposals with a call for collective security within the EU, designed as an alternative to NATO.

But with Germany slashing its defence spending, Europe may well abandon the Atlantic Alliance without having anything to put in its place apart from fine words.